Not My Definition of Fun!
by GreenLightsaberGirl
Summary: Adrienne Garnet, an assistant historian, overhears Ben and Riley’s story and believes them. On the night of the Gala, she finds herself dragged into the action. IanOC.
1. An Invisible Map

Chapter 1 

Adrienne Garnet stared at the closed of Abigail Chase's office and sighed. A few minutes ago a Mr. Brown and a younger man had gone into Abigail's office. Finally giving into the battle going on inside her head she tossed her straight, red hair over her shoulder and put her ear to the door. Inside Abigail was speaking to Mr. Brown and the younger man.

"Mr. Brown I have personally seen the back of the Declaration of Independence and I promise you the only thing there is a notation that reads 'Original Declaration of Independence dated 4 of July 1776.'" they both finished

"Yes Ma'am." He said "But no map." Abigail said. Several moments of silence came after she spoke.

"It's invisible." Mr. Brown replied.

"Oh…right" Adrienne heard Abigail said not sounding convinced at all. There was a new voice, which Adrienne assumed was the younger man. "And that's where we lost the department of Homeland Security." "What lead you to assume there is an invisible map?" Abigail asked

"We found an engraving on the back of a 200 year old pipe." Mr. Brown replied

"O-owned by free Masons." The younger man said, stammering slightly.

"May I see the pipe?" Abigail asked. There was another a moment of silence.

"We, uh don't have it." Mr. Brown's voice said. "

Did Bigfoot take it?" Adrienne heard Abigail ask. There was a rustle of movement and Mr. Brown spoke again. " It was nice meeting you."

"Nice to meet you to" Abigail replied

"You know that really is a nice collection," Mr. Brown said referring to something in the room, "Must have taken you a long time to hunt down all that history."

Adrienne quickly backed away from the door as it opened and pulled out a notepad and pretended to write. Mr. Brown walked over to the small waiting table and picked up one of the Gala pamphlets then walked down the hall followed by the younger man. Adrienne watched them go, curiously, then turned to Abigail's office. "What was that about?" she asked walking inside. Abigail seated herself in her desk chair and leaned back. "Some myth about a treasure." Abigail replied.

"What did that have to do with the Declaration of Independence?" Adrienne asked sitting down herself in one of the chairs in front of the desk. Abigail studied her suspiciously

"Adrienne, were you eavesdropping?" Adrienne shrugged and turned slightly red "Possibly." She admitted.

"Adrienne you are going to get in trouble one day with that habit."

"Yeah, I know but…. I couldn't resist"

"Anyway" Abigail continued "There is supposablely an invisible treasure map on the back of the Declaration of Independence."

"So are you going to check it out?" Adrienne asked curiously

"Run chemical tests on the back of one of the most Important documents in history? We wouldn't want to risk damaging it. And Mr. Brown had not proof whatsoever."

"You could probably just use lemon juice on it. That would not cause any damage." Adrienne suggested

"True." Abigail nodded "But there is not reason to."

"Yeah, Your probably right." Adrienne sighed "But it would be cool if there was a map."

Abigail leaned forward and put her hands on the desk in front of her, her chair creaking slightly as she did so. "Adrienne." She said slowly "Nothing will ever come of that. It's just a waste of time."

"Yes, I know." Adrienne agreed. "So what did you want me for?"

Abigail shuffled some papers on the side of her desk and pulled out a Gala pamphlet "You are going to the Gala this weekend right? Adrienne shook her head "I hadn't planned on it. I'm just an assistant historian"

"You still get an invitation just because you work here as an historian." Abigail said reaching across her desk and handing the pamphlet to her.

"So I get in without having to make a donation?" Adrienne asked, opening the pamphlet.

"Yes, you should come."

"Ok" Adrienne said closing the pamphlet and standing up "I'll come."

"But I'll probably be very bored since you will be the only person I know." She added

Abigail smiled reassuringly "Don't worry something interesting always happens at parties."


	2. A Very Interesting Party Indeed!

Chapter 2 

The night of the Gala came faster than Adrienne had expected. She hadn't had time to fuss with her hair so had left it down. Adrienne stood near the musicians wearing a floor length, wide strapped black dress and two-inch heels. Nearby in another room Abigail, wearing a dark blue low-cut dress, was socializing with people Adrienne had never met. She gazed out over the people trying to amuse herself. Her thoughts drifted back to the conversation she had heard in Abigail's office. Suddenly her hazel eyes narrowed as she spotted a familiar figure or rather three familiar figures talking across the room. Abigail was talking to Mr. Herbert and surprisingly Mr. Paul Brown. Adrienne cocked her head curiously, then slowly began making her way toward them, weaving in between elegantly dressed people. Almost before she came into hearing distance the three raised their glasses into a toast. Mr. Herbert and Abigail both took small sips but Mr. Brown raised his glass and drained it.

"Well, good night." he said.

"Good night." Mr. Herbert replied

"Good night." Abigail echoed looking after Mr. Brown faintly puzzled. _Why is he carrying two champagne glasses? _Adrienne wondered as she waited for Abigail and Mr. Herbert to finish talking.

"Abigail, I know your opinion on this. But… I've been thinking." Adrienne said stepping up to her.

"If there is an treasure map on the back of the Declaration someone may actually try to steal it." Abigail sighed

"Adrienne there is no treasure map on the back of that document. If you are really so worried about it you can go see for yourself that it is safe."

"Really? Right now?" Adrienne asked,

"Yes, Just make sure you get the right password we don't want the alarm to go off now." Adrienne turned to go.

"And if you need help get one of the security staff." Abigail called after her. Adrienne made her way to the elevator and pressed her thumb to the device by the door. It chinged softly and the doors slid open. Adrienne stepped inside and leaned against the railing as the floors slid by as the elevator descended to the Preservation room. The doors opened with a whoosh to reveal the hallway. Adrienne stopped in front of the metal door to the Preservation room and tapped a key to pull the keypad out. She quickly typed her password in and started forward through the door then stopped in shock. The table where the Declaration of Independence was kept was empty!

Adrienne turned around, still in the doorway and spotted Mr. Brown standing in front of the other elevator holding still in its case, the Declaration.

"What?" Adrienne quietly gasped. _How could I not have noticed him when I came in?_ Suddenly the door leading from the stairs burst open, out of which rushed a blond haired man followed by three other men all dressed in black clothing. The blond haired man's gaze fixed instantly on Mr. Brown

"Gates." He said stopping. The man next to him suddenly pulled out a gun and began firing on Paul Brown who yanked the bulletproof case up over his head and torso and stepped back into the elevator whose doors had finally opened. The bullets bounced off the case leaving three cracks in the glass. The bald man with the gun continued shooting until the elevator doors had closed totally.

"He's got the bloody map!" the blond man murmured running a hand through his longish hair. _Oh Great, now I need a security guard. _ Adrienne thought, as he turned catching sight of Adrienne for the first time. "Who are you?" He asked in a thick English accent, stepping toward her. Adrienne suddenly snapped out of her frozen trance and raced for the elevator.

"Get her!" he yelled. Behind her one of the men slammed into the door where Adrienne had just been standing. She jabbed at the elevator button violently and stepped inside as they opened with a ching. Unfortunately, the bald man jammed his foot in the elevator doors, preventing them from closing.

"I don't think so." he said pulling her out despite her protests. As soon as she was out of the elevator another man grabbed her other arm holding her tightly.

"Stop it! Let go of me!" Adrienne yelled struggling furiously. The blond man stepped up to her

" Who are you?" he asked again this time more threateningly.

"Adrienne Garnet, I work here, who are you? You do intend to pay for that door right?" she terrifiedly gasped all in one breath.

"Ian Howe, a pleasure meeting you," Ian turned around, and looked over his shoulder "And I don't intend on paying for the door. Nice dress by the way."

"Uh…Thank you." Adrienne replied nervously. Ian turned to the other men

"Let's go. Bring her." He said starting to walk away.

"No!!" Adrienne exclaimed trying to dig her heels into the floor as she was dragged forward. Everyone rushed through several hallways and came to a flight of stairs leading downward. The two men holding Adrienne's arms were holding her so tightly her feet barely touched the stairs. Adrienne started humming as she always did when nervous. No one noticed till they were past the stairs and climbing into what looked like a tunnel or drainpipe to Adrienne, where she realized that the annoyed glances she was receiving were due to her humming. The tunnel was low enough that even at 5'5 Adrienne had to stoop. The man on her left let go of her arm and pulled out a flashlight, shining it on the ground ahead. Up ahead the tunnel stopped and a ladder mad of metal bands set into the concrete lead upward. The guy called Shaw had already scrambled halfway up and was tossing bags up. As soon as the bags were up Adrienne was shoved over to the ladder.

"I can't climb in this!" she protested

"Just go!" someone snapped from behind her. Adrienne grabbed a rung and stepped up, as soon as she had someone grabbed her ankles and unceremonially shoved her up.

"Hey!" she shrieked as Shaw grabbed her shoulders and hauled her up into a large catering van. Adrienne scrambled to her feet, grimacing as the hem of her dress tore on the metal edge. Suddenly she heard the sound of an alarm coming from the Archives. _Now if only the police can get here in time to get me out of here!_ she thought, glancing down at the hole in the floor all the other men had climbed up, except Ian who was looking out on the street, still half in the tunnel.

"Got you." He said barely audible. _What? Got who? Or what? _ Ian pulled his head and shoulders up and shouted "Viktor, move!" Adrienne grabbed a hook on the wall as she slid backwards, her shoes providing no traction on the metal floor. The van came to a stop just as suddenly as it started and two of Ian's men jumped out a side door. Adrienne peered out the open door, Abigail was standing on the side of the street holding a tube, containing what Adrienne assumed was the Declaration of Independence.

"Give me the document!" one of the men demanded trying to wrestle the document away from Abigail.

"No!" she screamed back. Adrienne was about to jump out the open door, but Ian leaned in front of her and coincidentally barred her way.

"Just bring her!" he yelled. One of the men scooped up Abigail, still screaming for help, and hurried back into the van, shoving her in front of him. The van started up again with another jerk as Abigail made her way to the back of the van, clutching the Declaration. Adrienne would have followed her but one of the men grabbed her arm.

"And just who might you be?" Ian asked, facing Abigail. Abigail's gaze flickered over everyone and rested on Adrienne.

"Adrienne! What are you doing here?"

"Him!" Adrienne replied, gesturing to Ian with her free arm.

"Why don't you just pass me that document? Then we can all go home." Ian said stepping toward Abigail. She backed up even further and shook her head determinedly. There was a loud crashing and the van began bouncing up and down sending everyone inside flying. The guy holding Adrienne's arm let go to grab at the counter. Adrienne slipped and crashed down into the floor and instantly tried to protect her head. Directly in front of her all she could see was white foam, the back of Ian's black jacket and what looked like Abigail's hair. Pots and pans began to rain from the walls and ceiling.

Suddenly Adrienne heard a scream and felt a blast of cold night air. Kneeling on the floor, she could see through the now open back doors, a red van with Mr. Brown and a younger man in it. _Wait, where's Abigail? _Adrienne thought looking around frantically and spotted her hanging on one of the open back doors still clutching the document. Adrienne climbed to her feet and groped her way to the door.

"Abigail!" she called, - BANG!!! Adrienne jerked away from the door as Shaw, raising his gun, started to fire on the red van. Ian yanked his arm down, exclaiming; "No! If she falls the document falls!"

The red van's side door opened and Mr. Brown attempted to grab Abigail. Suddenly with a roar, a bus came down the road straight at the two cars. Adrienne clapped her hands over her mouth, not expecting to see Abigail on the door as it swung back inward. Amazingly, Abigail was still hanging on to the door with the document. As the door almost swung closed Ian grabbed the document pulling it away from her.

"Thank you." he said stepping back.

"No!" Abigail screamed as the door swung back out. Ian turned to Shaw;

"Got it. Carry on." he said gesturing over his shoulder with a smile. Adrienne looked out the doors, Mr. Brown had reached Abigail and was yelling at her to jump, while Shaw shot at them both. Adrienne stood watching, unable to do anything. Mr. Brown managed to pull Abigail in to the van and the door slid shut as several bullets glanced off, leaving silver metal showing through the paint. _At least Abigail is safe but I'm still here in a van filled with bad guys who have the Declaration of Independence! _ Shaw turned away from the door.

"We lost them." He stated.

"That's alright." Ian said, smiling as he unrolled the Declaration.

"This is what we need." his smile froze on his face, however, as he noticed the price sticker for $35 dollars in the corner. He crumpled up the fake document and threw it down on the ground.

"Well done, Gates." He said to no one in particular.

"Well done." With that he turned and struck the counter behind him in either frustration or rage. _Or both._ Adrienne noted.


	3. Not My Definition of Fun!

A/N: For Christmas I received the National Treasure Collectors version. I took the deleted scenes that would have had Adrienne in them, and inserted them in Not My Definition of Fun!. Chapter Three 

Ok the bad guys do not have the Declaration. That's good. Then another thought struck her. How do I know these are the bad guys? Mr. Brown was trying to steal the Declaration too. These guys have guns though and they are using them, and they kidnapped me. So… Adrienne moved away from the open doors and away from Ian who, even though he looked perfectly calm now, might still hit something.

"So now what?" the guy called Phil asked, as he shut the open back doors. Ian said nothing but sat on the edge of the counter and ran his hand through his hair thoughtfully. After kicking away a pan leaning against the wall, Adrienne leaned up against it. Shaw stood a few feet away from Ian, who was staring at the floor, apparently, in deep thought. Phil was digging through several of the black bags. The other guy, Adrienne assumed was with the driver. Ian looked up at Adrienne.

"Miss Garnet, what were you doing in the Preservation Room?" he asked

"I work there." Adrienne replied, looking at the floor herself.

"From your outfit, you obviously came from the Gala. Why did you go down there at the time you did?"

"I got worried about the Declaration and I wanted to look at it."

"Why?" he pressed

" Because I thought it there was really a treasure map on the back, someone might try to steal it. Obviously I was right."

" How would she-" Shaw started to say but Ian interrupted.

"How did you know about a treasure map?" he said looking intently at Adrienne. Adrienne swallowed and resisted the urge to start humming as she answered.

"About two days ago a Mr. Paul Brown and another man came to Dr. Chase's office with the tale of a treasure. I heard most of the conversation."

"So what do we need her for?" Phil asked holding a bunch of wired. Ian glanced at him.

"She'll be useful." Adrienne's muscles tensed.

"Mr. Howe if you are holding me for ransom, you aren't going it succeed. My birth parents are dead, and my adopted parents currently hate me." Adrienne said flatly.

"Your birth parents are dead? I'm sorry." Ian said sounding genuinely sorry.

"Don't be." Adrienne said looking away.

"Just out of curiosity, why do your parents currently hate you?" Phil asked, looking up from fiddling with the wire. Adrienne looked at him calmly.

" I hit my last boyfriend over the head repeatedly with a golf club, four years ago." she stated. Everyone looked at Adrienne. With what she couldn't guess.

"Do I want to know why?" Phil muttered

"So what now?" Shaw asked

"The first clue… It has something more in it." Ian said

"Of course our progress will be greatly set back since Gates has the map." he continued.

"Who is Gates?" Adrienne asked

"Ben Gates would be the Paul Brown, the annoying person with him would be Riley Poole." Ian said with annoyance. Adrienne thought for a moment.

"So you and Mr. Gates are after the same thing. Did you work together in the past?" Adrienne asked with a flash of insight. Ian slid off the counter.

"We had differing opinions."

"Yeah, I can see that." Adrienne muttered.

"So this trip was a complete waste of time. We didn't get the document, all we got was Her!"

"Hey! I don't want to be here." Adrienne protested

Abruptly the van came to a stop. Adrienne climbed to her feet. She sighed when she discovered that the tear on her dress had torn even more and there was a smear of black stuff on the side of it. Shaw, shouldering a backpack opened the side door and jumped out. Adrienne followed. The catering van was in an alley, at one end she could see the street light shining brightly through the softly falling rain. Adrienne glanced longingly at it, If she could get there, surly there would be people who could help- her thinking was cut off by Ian emerging from the van, followed by Victor who had a smug look on his face. Victor left the alley heading out into the main street. Ian watched him go then turned back to the others, looking relived. "Come on, we don't want the equipment to get wet." He said grabbing Adrienne's arm and headed for the other end of the alley after Phil.

"Let go of me! I can walk perfectly fine on my own!" Adrienne said immensely annoyed. At that moment the heel of her shoe caught in a crack that tried to trip her, almost sending her to her knees if it wasn't for Ian who was still holding her arm.

"Really now?" he asked laughing. " If it weren't for these stupid shoes…" Adrienne fumed. Shippen at this moment turned and snapped several pictures with a tiny digital camera. "Shippen, why are you taking pictures?" Ian asked glancing at the fuming Adrienne.

"I'm documenting this."

Adrienne's anger however, dampened considerably after several minutes of hiking through the darkened streets in the rain.

"Please tell me we're almost there?" she finally asked "What? Not having fun yet?" Ian asked, turning from his hushed conversation with Shaw.

"Ok, let me see, I'm hiking in heels through a bunch of dirty streets, in the rain, wearing an evening gown. My hair is wet; my makeup is running down my face. I'm sorry but none of these things are in my definition of fun! Oh and don't let me forget the best part, I've been kidnapped by a treasure-craving lunatic and his team of idiots! No I'm not having a fun time! You wouldn't either!" She exclaimed

"Why I'd be having a jolly old time." Shaw said from behind her. Adrienne shook her head in disbelief. Her feet and ankles began to ache horribly by the time they emerged from the alley behind a hotel. Shippen headed for the side door. Ian turned to Adrienne " Miss Garnet you will not try anything. That includes running, screaming, and or jumping." Adrienne rolled her eyes. "Oh, and no talking to the other guests."

"So what am I allowed to do?" she asked sarcastically. "Just stand there and look pretty." Ian said walking through the open door. Adrienne looked down at her torn and tattered dress and up again in disbelief. "You're joking. Right?" she said walking after Ian. "You might smile to, if that helps." Phil added helpfully. The hallway was brightly lit by tiny lamps set into the wall by each door. Adrienne idly glanced at the room number as she passed. 37,39,45,51…. Just around a curve in the hallway they almost ran into an elderly couple, dressed in bathrobes. Everyone in the group stiffened. "Good evening Mr. Richardson." said the elderly lady with curlers in her hair, her voice sounding almost like a bird's chirp. "How are you tonight? I see it is still raining." she chirped.

" Very good, thank you." Ian replied. Adrienne silently mouthed '_help me_' in their direction. The elderly couple stared at her curiously.

"Who is your friend?" The elderly lady asked.

"You already met Phil, Shaw and Shippen and this is my fiancée, Adrienne." Ian said wrapping his arm around Adrienne's shoulders. _What! The nerve!_ She thought indignantly.

"She's a little mentally unstable." he continued

"Oh I'm so sorry!" the elderly couple squeaked together. "I hope you can get some help for her." The man added.

"Well, good night." Ian said as Phil who had been trying to open the door, finally opened it.

"Good night!" the elderly couple called walking away. As soon as the door closed behind Shippen, Adrienne yanked Ian's arm off her. "Get your arm off me! I look insane now?!!!"

" Not particularly. But only an insane person would stand there and mouth she was being kidnapped by her loving fiancé."

"You are all idiotic lunatics!" She yelled frustratedly. Shaw was laughing. Adrienne looked at the door and considered banging her head on it but concluded it was probably a thing she would not be allowed to do. Directly ahead was a closed door that most likely led to a bedroom or bathroom. The main room widened out into a sitting room. Against the walls lay a few bags and boxes filled with electrical equipment.

'_I've got to get out of these shoes.' _She thought collapsing in a chair. She shoved her hair out of her face and stared glumly around. Everyone was dripping wet and no one seemed to care. Ian had pulled out a laptop and set it up on the table, he was now sitting on the couch holding a yellow legal pad that had what looked like a short poem and doodles on it.

"What's that?" Adrienne asked after craning her neck and failing to read it.

" The clue from the meerschaum pipe found on The Charlotte." Ian replied, not glancing up. Shaw and Phil were seated on the couch opposite the one Ian was on, and were pulling equipment out of the soaked bags. Shippen flipped through the phone book, phone book in hand.

"Hello? Is this the Great Wall?" asked Shippen, talking, to someone on the phone, "I want all my food delivered to the Watergate Hotel. Five, no," he started to count the number of people in the room, always overlooking Adrienne.

"Five people wait, wait, wait! Six people."

"Yes I do count as a person, thank you." muttered Adrienne. After a few seconds of silence, Adrienne listened curiously to the one sided conversation she was hearing.

"Yes, that." Shippen said "And that too." Another second of silence "Oh, double that." Adrienne looked at Shippen like he was a chip in a suit drinking coffee. She turned to Shaw

"What's he ordering?" He answered with an all knowing grin, "That."

"Is THAT edible?" She asked

"Hopefully, but knowing how Shippen orders, I doubt it." replied Shaw with a disgusted look plastered on his face. He then turned his attention back to the piece of equipment he was cleaning.

"Gates was wrong." Shippen said, reading off the laptop on the desk in the corner. "It wasn't 55 men who signed the bloody thing in iron pen, it was 56." he exclaimed in disgust. Ian continued writing on his paper, deep in thought.

"He said he was holding something back." Shaw threw in.

"Maybe all 56 hadn't signed when the pipe was made." Phil guessed.

"The pipe from The Charlotte? Is that was you're talking about?" Adrienne asked, starting to get what was being discussed.

"That's it. 'Thomas McKean was said not have signed until late 1781." Shippen informed.

"He was from Delaware." Adrienne supplied, digging up her U.S history knowledge.

"Hang on, hang on." Ian said. Adrienne could almost see the light bulb going off over his head.

" 'The key in Silence undetected.'" He quoted, vigorously circling a word. " That wasn't about the map. That's about a cipher."

"Cipher?" Phil questioned.

"There's a cipher in this clue?" Adrienne echoed. Shaw turned to Phil.

"Yeah, it's a…a secret message you need a key to decode. You take numbers and correlate them with words from a book, like, say the Bible or the Koran." He walked over and sat on the other couch, while explaining. "We use them in the gun-running trade."

"Nice to know what you do for a living, aside from this." Adrienne commented.

"Previous life activity." Shaw corrected.

"So what's the key?" Phil asked.

Ian held up the legal pad that had the clue on it.

"Gentlemen, why is this word capitalized?" he said pointing to the word: Silence. Adrienne quickly read the clue. 'The legend writ, the stain effected, the key in Silence undetected, 55 in iron pen, Mr. Matleck can't offend.'

"Because they didn't use proper grammar?" Adrienne said sarcastically.

"Because it's important?" Shippen asked. Ian shook his head

"Because it's a name."

"Who's name?" Shaw asked

"Silence Dogood. I think." Ian replied

"You mean Benjamin Franklin?" Adrienne asked from her chair.

"How could Benjamin Franklin be this Silence Dogood person?" Shaw said, shaking his head.

"Actually she's right." Ian said, getting up and walking to where his laptop was set up on a table.

" Benjamin Franklin wrote several letters to his brother's newspaper, the New England Courant, pretending to be a middle aged widow named Silence Dogood."

"So where do we find these letters?" Shaw asked as Ian continued typing.

"That's what I'm trying to find." Ian said, his keyboard clicking. Suddenly there was a knock at the door. Phil got off the couch and opened it. In the doorway stood a Oriental teenager holding a paper bag filled with to-go boxes, and grinning madly.

"Hello!" He nearly shouted, "Here's your delivery!"

" I gather that, thank you." Phil said slightly irritated "How much?"

"$45.00 dollars! Plus tax!" the teenager said, still excited.

"Is the tax already included?" asked Phil

"Of course it is!" the teenager said perkily.

"Ok, here." Phil said, handing him the money and taking the bags.

" Thank you for ordering from Great Wall!" the teenager said before the door shut. Adrienne stared in disbelief._ And I thought these guys were weird. At least they don't act like that!_ Everyone gathered around the end of the table opposite where Ian was working, to see exactly what Shippen had ordered.

"Shrimp! And more Shrimp!" Shaw exclaimed

"What's wrong with it?" Shippen said trying to defend his meal choice. No answer, except for a distantly annoyed Ian, at the way the table was being jostled, thus interfering with his reading ability.

"Found anything yet?" Shaw asked

"The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia is where the letters are kept on display. They were donated by a Patrick Gates."

Two hours later Adrienne was still sitting in her chair. Her hair had dried but, unfortunately not her dress. All the equipment had been dried and packed away. All the guys with the exception of Ian, who was still clicking away on his laptop, were watching some action movie on TV. Adrienne was dozing, all her adrenaline had worn off, and leaving her tired and drained. She never noticed when she fell asleep.


	4. Clothing Difficulties and Coffee

Chapter 4 

A white ceiling was the first thing Adrienne saw when she opened her eyes. With a jerk she sat up and looked around. She was lying on a white bed in a hotel room. Glancing down she noticed her still torn and battered dress, with a shock all that had happened the night before rushed back in her memory. _It hadn't been a dream. Bother .I wish it had been._ Adrienne swung her legs over the edge of the bed then stopped for a moment, thinking. _How sound was I sleeping? I fell asleep out there and must have slept through being moved in here. Creepy. _ "Where are my shoes?" she asked to the air. _They must be in the main room._

Cautiously, she opened the door and stepped out, barefooted. The room was dimly lit by sunlight filtering through the blinds. Someone was snoring and she smelled coffee. Adrienne began walking in the direction of the door, hoping to slip out before anyone woke, then stopped. She was sure she had heard something.

Suddenly she felt a tap on her shoulder and a voice say in a rather cheerful manner: "Good morning."

Adrienne whirled around a scream sticking in her throat, and accidentally stepping on her dress, causing her to stumble.

"Did you sleep well?" Ian asked, helping her up.

"Ah…. yes." Adrienne stammered, regaining her composure.

"I thought you would like a room of your own instead of walking up surrounded by, what did you call them? Idiots?" He said smiling. Just then the door opened with a slight creak, letting a blaze of light into the room. Shippen and Phil stepped in, the latter of the two holding a shopping bag.

"Did you get it?" Ian asked turning to face them.

"Yeah, we guessed sizes though, so don't blame us if it doesn't fit her." Shippen said pouring himself a cup of coffee.

"What is this?" Adrienne asked, taking the bag as it was handed to her.

"Clothes. You can't really go walking around in Philadelphia in that." Ian replied gesturing to her dress. Several minutes later Adrienne reopened the door of the bedroom.

"You people have horrid taste in clothing. I refuse to wear this." she said, still wearing her dress

"What's wrong with it?" Shippen asked over his coffee cup. Adrienne ticked things off on her fingers as she spoke.

"The only thing that fits are the shoes, nothing matches and there are no socks." Shippen glanced at Phil

"I told you to get socks."

"Did you see the way the clerk was staring at us? I wasn't about to." Phil protested grumpily. Ian sighed, then emerged from behind his laptop.

"Here, make a list of your sizes and clothes that match." he said shoving a notepad and pen at her. Adrienne smiled to herself as she began writing. _I might as well get really expensive stuff. Since they're paying for it. _Shippen took her list and left again with Phil, who was grumbling. Adrienne retrieved her shoes and a cup of coffee, and seated herself back in a chair. Shaw had awakened, causing the snoring to stop, much to Adrienne's relief. Ian vanished and reappeared in different clothing.

"How you drink that stuff is beyond me." Ian said glancing disapprovingly at Shaw and Adrienne's coffee. Shaw looked over the top of his paper.

"Ian, coffee does not make you short." he said.

"Yes it does" Ian insisted "Someday you are going to be as short as her." Adrienne sighed heavily.

" What was Phil so upset about?" Shaw asked with interest

"Clothing difficulties." Ian replied.

"What?"

"Don't ask."

"You know." Adrienne pointed out. "Phil wouldn't have these problems if you would just let me go."

" Sorry, not an option. You'll just have to enjoy our company for a while." Ian replied

"Somehow I don't think I'll be enjoying my stay." Adrienne answered sarcastically.


	5. Philadelphia and Escape

Author's note: I am soooooo sorry for not updating this sooner, and even more sorry for accidentally deleting it. I will hurry up and try to finish it! A big Thank You to all my reviewers, who stuck with me! Chapter 5 

Shippen and Phil returned with jeans, a long sleeved blue shirt and of all things, a black leather jacket. Adrienne had a very low view on leather jackets. She stared at it disgustedly for a moment then shrugged it on and stepped back into the main room. Her view on things lowered even more when she realized that everyone except Ian were in leather jackets.

In a very short time, everything had been packed and Adrienne was jammed in the back seat of a car between Shaw and Phil.

"So you're going to steal the Silence Dogood letters now?" Adrienne asked

"No, just looking for the clue in them." Ian replied from the front seat.

" And then your going to steal them?" she persisted.

"We may have to 'borrow' them but, I doubt it." The ride to Philadelphia was long and quiet, except for Phil's grumbling that someone had drank all the coffee. Adrienne could care less.

When they arrived, Adrienne began to feel hopeful that with all the people that were around, she might be able to slip away. As they walked up the steps Adrienne's hopes began to fall, someone was either holding her arm in a "friendly" manner or standing nearby. She shoved her hands in the pockets of her jacket and stepped back as a young black boy carrying a backpack brushed by her.

"Excuse me" he said hurrying past Shippen and Viktor and accidentally running into Ian.

"Oops, sorry sir." He said

"That's ok." Ian said, looking back and briefly smiling. A Giant white marble monument of Benjamin Franklin was set in the middle of the room. Ian went promptly to the case that held the Silence Dogood letters and looked them over, slipping his hands in his pockets. The boy reappeared and walked by in front of Ian and stopped in front of one of the letters, holding a notepad and pencil. Adrienne watched curiously as the boy wrote something down and walked off. Ian looked at where the boy had been and back at the letters, apparently putting the pieces together in his head, then turned and followed after the boy. _Mr. Gates and that Riley Poole person must have known Ian was here so, got the kid to get the clue. And Ian just figured that out! _Adrienne concluded to herself, as she was rushed down the stairs. Just outside the doors Ian paused, watching as across the street, the boy was jumping up and down to peer over a low wall beside an empty bench.

"What's going on?" Shaw asked, coming up beside Ian.

"I'm not sure." Ian replied

"Is this real?" the boy asked peering intently at the one hundred dollar bill, Ian had given him.

"Just tell me what you told my friend." Ian said from where he was sitting, on the park bench facing the boy.

"Just a bunch of letters. I can't remember."

"Can you remember which ones what you were going to tell him next?" _Don't tell him! _Adrienne desperately thought.

"Yeah here, S-T-O-W." the boy said distractedly, handing Ian a sticky note

"Thank you." Ian replied, standing up and studying the sticky note. The boy was already rushing off, no doubt to tell his friends about the weird, blond, Englishman who was handing out hundred dollar bills in exchange for letters.

"Another clue?" Shaw asked, looking over Ian's shoulder.

" Yes, I need the laptop." At the car Shippen pulled up the Yahoo! Search engine and typed in 'STOW, Declaration of Independence.'

"Top results, Liberty Bell and Independence Hall." Shippen said looking up.

"It was in 1846 on George Washington's birthday that the final expansion of the crack accrued, retiring the Liberty Bell permanently. Eventually it was moved from its place in Independence hall steeple and given its…

"Idiot." Ian muttered suddenly

"Who?" Shaw asked.

"Me." "What?"

"Its not here. Its there." Adrienne followed Ian's gaze up over the Liberty Bell to the tower of Independence Hall.

"Come on."

Adrienne's curiosity was awakened when they stepped over a 'No Admittance' sign and began climbing the stairs to the bell tower. She had always had a childish desire to go up there.

Ian and Shaw were evidently more long-legged than she was, Adrienne was having to trot to keep up and avoid being shoved on by Shaw. When they reached the top she was slightly disappointed, all that was up there was the Centennial Bell. Ian was looking around, for the clue when Shippen's voice issued from the hand-held radio suddenly.

"We're on him." Through a barred window Adrienne could see Ben Gates, far below.

Radio still in hand, Ian moved over to another window.

"Shaw, look. There are the others."

"I got it." Shaw said, rushing back down the trap door, and talking to Viktor. Ian looked out the window for a moment then turned to go.

"Come on." He said, grabbing Adrienne's wrist.

"You don't have to be so violent about it..." Adrienne muttered. Ian practically sprinted down the stairs, with Adrienne, who was in mortal fear for her life. She was extremely relived when they reached the bottom in one piece, and slowed down to a walk.

"Ian. Ian, I've got them! They're heading toward City Hall." Shaw said, through the radio, with a bunch of static.

"Ok, I'm on my way." Ian replied, abruptly changing direction.

"Ian, slow down! You're going to kill someone! Most likely me." Adrienne gasped, dodging people.

"We're in a bit of a hurry here."

"The Declaration's been around for 200 years, can't you wait a bit longer?" Adrienne replied, sarcastically.

"They're heading for the breezeway, on the north side." Shaw said, sounding out of breath.

"We'll be right there." Ian said, as Adrienne nearly missed knocking over a lady and her tray of coffee cups. Up ahead, the loud blaring honk of a truck sounded. Adrienne looked ahead to see Abigail being pulled out of the way of the same truck.

_Is she trying to kill herself for that document?_ Adrienne wondered, worriedly.

The document in question lay in the street, still in its case. Ian released her wrist and strode out to retrieve it. He unscrewed the cap and pulled the Declaration out slightly, then nodded at where Abigail and the young man, whom Adrienne assumed was Riley Poole, lay in a heap. From behind Shaw and Viktor ran up, Abigail and Riley scrambled to their feet and took off running. Adrienne likewise, ran in the same direction, elated that she was successfully escaping.


	6. Brick Walls and Nightmares

Chapter 6 

Adrienne slowed to a walk and glanced around, looking for Abigail and Riley, who were nowhere to be seen.

"Don't tell me I finally escape only to get lost." She muttered to herself. After a few minutes of fruitless wandering around, she spotted them walking swiftly away from something.

"Abigail!" Adrienne called, running up to them.

"Adrienne! What happened? Are you all right? Did anyone hurt you?" Abigail exclaimed.

"Well, I got kidnapped." Adrienne answered "I'm ok though. What's going on?'

"Adrienne this is Riley Poole." Abigail introduced.

"You don't look as annoying as I've heard you are." She said, shaking his hand.

"Well, we all know who told you about me." Riley said sarcastically.

"Ok, Ben was arrested by the FBI." Abigail continued worriedly. "And we have no clue what to do next." Riley put in.

"That's a problem, I think. I really don't know that much about what is going on here. But…I think I should go back to the Archives and see if I can help there, the Declaration is going to need some major care after what its been through."

Abigail nodded knowingly, "That is a fact. Well then, I'll see you when we get it back. And by the way, I have your cell phone." Adrienne turned back to accept it. "Thank you, I forgot you had it at the Gala. I really need to stop leaving stuff lying around."

Abigail and Riley continued down the sidewalk and Adrienne began her search for a car rental. As she passed a cemetery she suddenly stopped. Up ahead, Shippen was leaning against the wall, rubbing his jaw as if in pain. Quickly, Adrienne turned and walked away. A couple blocks later, she realized she was heading the same direction that Ian's car was.

"That's the last place I want to go." She said to herself, turning around.

"Oh, not good!" Phil and Shippen were both walking in her direction. _Ok, just walk normally away, they haven't seen you…_

"Adrienne!" Phil yelled, breaking into a run. _So much for that thought…_

Adrienne ran, clueless of where to go, but wanting to get away. Glancing back, she saw that Phil and Shippen were still chasing her, and gaining! Adrienne looked back in front of her and gasped, but unable to stop, ran headlong in to a brick wall.

"Ow…"

"That didn't look fun." Shippen commented.

"Ok, how many fingers am I holding up?" Phil asked, hauling Adrienne to her feet. Adrienne squinted at his hand.

"Four?" Now that she was on her feet, Phil and Shippen seemed to have doubled.

"Two." Phil glanced at Shippen.

"Ian's going to kill us."

"She must have hit her head, hard."

"No duh, I could have told you that." Adrienne groaned. Everyone she passed on the way to the car, seemed to be walking around with their identical twin. Plus she had a killer headache.

Apon reaching the car, she dropped into the backseat, shutting her eyes.

"What did you do?!" Ian sounded furious.

"We didn't do anything, she ran into a brick wall!" Phil defended.

"Are you going to be ok?" from the sound of his voice, Ian was just inside the open car door. Opening her eyes cautiously, Adrienne focused in the general direction of the doubled Ian.

"I. Ran. Into. A. Brick. Wall. Do you do this to all your hostages? Chase them down with your henchmen till they injure themselves? "

"I truly am sorry for that."

"You go try running into a brick wall for fun someday."

A few moments later after taking Advil and managing to not dump the water down her shirt, Adrienne began to feel sleepy, as she usually did after taking medication. Shaw and Viktor arrived, with Viktor slightly upset and demanding to know why Adrienne was still being brought along. Which was a question Adrienne herself, wanted to know. After a hushed argument and Adrienne being moved to the SUV, Viktor took off in the smaller car, to who-knows where.

By this time Adrienne was, thankfully, not seeing double, but her head was in danger of exploding. Very sleepily, she could imagine the gray brain stuff flying all over the car and splattering everywhere.

Shaw had just started the car, with Adrienne seated in-between Phil and Shippen, again, when an annoying beeping noise filled the car.

"Ahhhh, make it stop!" Adrienne said, annoyed.

"It's coming from your pocket." Shippen said, sounding amused. Adrienne dug into her pocket, and discovered her cell phone. She stared at it blankly for a moment before Phil flipped it open and turned it on speaker.

"Hello?" Adrienne asked.

"Hi Adrienne, this is Abigail. Riley and I are trying to contact Ian and all his phone is doing is ring. Do you know what hotel he is staying at?" Adrienne stared at the phone.

"I think I can help you with that."

"Really?"

"He's right in front of me."

"What? Are you?…."Abigail asked, her voice trailing off.

"Kidnapped again? Yes. Don't worry about it, it's becoming normal for me." Adrienne replied sarcastically, handing the phone to Ian. He immediately turned it off speaker.

"Ian here." He said briefly.

"Really? That's unfortunate." There was a moment of silence. "Yes. I'm sure." There was another moment where he listened to either Abigail or Riley. "Good. We're agreed then. Here's Adrienne." He finished, handing the phone back.

"Yes?" Adrienne asked.

"You sound terrible, did anything happen?" Abigail asked in reply, concern filling her voice.

"Oh nothing, I just ran into a brick wall. It's not as bad as it sounds."

"Oh Adrienne, don't worry this will be over soon."

"It better!"

"Be careful, ok? I've got to go now." Abigail said reluctantly. Adrienne closed her phone.

"Change of plans." Ian said to Shaw. "We need to go to New York. Ben was arrested by the FBI, if we free him, he takes us to the treasure. I've got it all worked out now."

* * *

Her first boyfriend, Grant Stone, had been the perfect boyfriend. For three days only though. As Adrienne had violently discovered, he was a serial killer with a hatred for redheads. Apparently, he believed they were cursed because of their hair color and decided it was his duty to rid the world of them. The third night after the electricity in her apartment had gone out, Grant had showed up and attempted to strangle Adrienne. Adrienne had escaped traumatized, and bruised. _That was terrible, leaving England at 6:00 in the morning, avoiding all the other passenger's stares. _Adrienne shuddered slightly at the memory. _The nights after that were worse though, I hated to go to sleep, feared my dreams…_

Adrienne fell asleep shortly, during Ian's explanation of his plan. Her dreams were uneasy, filled with nightmares of a time in her life she would have been happy to forget. She was awakened rather abruptly, jolting her from her dream, where everything was much worse than it actually was.

"What's the deal?" Phil demanded "You're hitting me and talking out loud in your sleep." Adrienne tried to reorient herself, blinking confusedly.

"Nothing. Just a dream." She said quickly.

"A dream where a guy named Grant is trying to kill you?" Ian asked from the front seat. _I don't want to explain this.._ Adrienne thought, thinking desperately for a way out.


	7. Past Memories and Walking Toothpicks

Chapter 7 

"How did you know that?" she asked, her brain finally comprehending what he had said.

"You talk in your sleep." He replied

"And you hit things." Shippen added.

"Who is Grant?" Ian asked again.

"He wouldn't happen to be Grant Stone would he?" Shaw asked suddenly. Adrienne glanced at him sharply.

"Yes… how do you know him?"

"Heard about him, serial killer right? He killed his sister because she had red hair." Shaw said, not taking his eyes off the road.

"Uh, huh. He was my last boyfriend."

Phil whistled "Talk about bad luck."

"And since you are still here, alive, what happened?" Ian asked, twisting around in his seat.

" He tried to strangle me. I hit him with a golf club then barely escaped, left England in the middle of the night, went to the hospital in the U.S. as soon as I arrived. Been here in the U.S for three years, got kidnapped by some very strange, treasure obsessed people, and you know the rest." Adrienne flopped back in her seat. "Everyone happy now that I have told my life story in a nutshell? Anyone want to know anything else about me?" Adrienne shut her eyes, feeling slightly depressed from reliving certain memories.

"You'll be glad to hear that he tried the same thing again, only he got caught this time. He's in a federal prison with a life sentence." Shaw said.

" That's just pure evil, just to try to kill people because of their hair color. I'm terribly sorry Adrienne. That's a terrible thing to live through." Ian said, putting a hand on her knee.

" It's in the past." Adrienne replied, breaking eye contact. _Why does he care? He sounds like he truly means what he said. There must be more to Ian Howe than meets the eye._

* * *

Adrienne was woke up again, this time when they had reached their destination, another hotel, in New York. Thankfully, they ran into no other guests, while entering. After everyone looked at his watch, which Adrienne thought was completely unnecessary since there was a clock on the wall, a restaurant was decided upon. When asked if she had a preference on where to go, she replied "Some where dark.", in hopes that the dark would help her headache.

Viktor showed up, talked to Ian in the hall then promptly left again. Ian re-entered running a hand through his hair and looking incredibly stressed. Adrienne made a note of the fact. Something here didn't add up. _Is Viktor blackmailing Ian? Or everyone here? Or is it a hostage situation?_ Something inside Adrienne felt glad that there was hope that… _Maybe Ian is being forced to do this. Maybe he isn't truly bad…._

Whatever it was, Adrienne was sure that Viktor was not a welcome member of Ian's team.

The car pulled up the Black Angus Steakhouse, shortly after the decision of where to go was made. Inside, it was as dark as Adrienne could have wanted. But what was up will all the bubbles floating through the air?

"Hey, am I the only one seeing bubbles?" She asked, rubbing her eyes.

"No, I see them too. Must be a birthday party." Phil replied.

"How is your head?" Ian asked as the hostess seated them.

"It's a lot better now."

The only places you could clearly see were the buffet lines and the salad bar. Shippen as usual, was taking pictures. Apparently, the other guys had grown used to it, they didn't even blink at the flash.

A short while later Adrienne was at the salad bar with Ian when she noticed something…strange.

"Hey, your associates have finally lost it." She said

"What?" Ian looked up from dumping half the bottle of Ranch on his salad. Shaw, Shippen and Phil were all gesturing and waving wildly at something behind them. Ian curiously glanced over his shoulder and whipped his head back around, looking horrified.

"What?" Adrienne asked.

"Hello Ian, darling." Someone purred from behind them. Adrienne turned to see a black-haired, walking toothpick addressing them, or rather Ian. _Definitely a gold-digger. _Adrienne noted.

"Hello Clarissa." Ian said reluctantly "Have you met my fiancée Adrienne?" Even Adrienne noticed the veiled, hate filled glare Clarissa threw at her.

"Why no. What a pleasure to meet you." She said, smiling fakely.

"Oh, likewise, I'm sure." Adrienne replied, immensely disliking this woman.

"I'm terribly sorry Clarissa, but we are in a hurry." Ian said, taking a step back.

"Oh it was soooo nice seeing you, give me a call when you have the time." Clarissa responded, taking a step toward Adrienne as she turned to go.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Clarissa cried as she purposely jostled Adrienne. As she stumbled Adrienne up-ended her plate and flipped almost all of her salad down the front of Clarissa's bright red, low-cut dress. She stood there in shock staring at the lettuce and tomatoes sticking out then turned and ran for the ladies room, her waist length hair streaming behind her. Ian burst into a very fake coughing fit to cover his laughter, but did nothing to hide the smirk on his face. Adrienne grabbed another salad and hurried back to their table, smirking herself.

"Who was that? An ex-girlfriend?" she asked, when they were back at the table. Ian shuddered

"Never. She won't stop stalking me."

"She might now, especially with the pictures I got." Shippen pointed out.

* * *

Adrienne woke in the dark, gasping. She needed air! Grant was choking it out of her!

"Adrienne." She nearly screamed, thinking a nightmare had come to life.

"You were screaming." It was Ian. Adrienne breathed slowly, trying to calm down.

"I hate to ask this, but can you drug me? I can't sleep like this." She asked, still shaking slightly.

"Is it the same nightmare?" Ian asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

"It always has been. Gets worse each time."

"It's probably brought on by anxiety or stress, and your situation hasn't been free of either."

"You could do something about that, you know." Adrienne stated. There was a long silence.

"No, I can't. I'm sorry." Ian finally said.

"Why?" She asked as he rose to go. Ian didn't answer.

"I'll get you some sleeping pills."


	8. Trinity Church and the Truth

Chapter 8 

Adrienne finally woke up with a distance pounding in the back of her head. Yawning, she contemplated going back to sleep, but decided not to. Sitting next to her, in the parked car, was a gray-haired man with his wrists duct-taped together.

"Hello, I'm Adrienne Garnet." She introduced herself.

"Patrick Gates. Nice to meet you." He replied

"Am I correct in assuming you are Ben Gate's father?"

"Yes. Are you in the same hostage position I am?" Adrienne thought for a moment.

"Prisoner yes. Hostage, I'm not sure." She said slowly. Mr. Gates looked slightly confused, but excepted it. Adrienne yawned again. "Sorry." She apologized "I'm still slightly drugged."

"When you were carried over here, I thought you were unconscience. " The car door opened just then.

"Adrienne, come on. It's time." Ian said, waiting outside the door. Adrienne unclipped her seatbelt, which someone had buckled around her and slid out.

"Time for what?" She asked, blinking in the bright sunlight. Ian grabbed her arm, tugging her across the street. "Meeting Ben." Across the street, Adrienne sat on a bench, waiting while Ian paced, holding the Declaration case.

"Ian… Is Viktor or someone he is working for, blackmailing you?" Ian stopped in his pacing and leaned against a light-pole.

"What makes you say that?" he asked mildly. Adrienne shrugged. "Just picking up on things, here and there." Ian looked steadily at her then spoke.

"Viktor works for a group or organization, who found out about the Templer treasure and apparently want it. I was contacted and instructed when I found it, I would turn it over to them, or my sister's son would be killed."

"Your nephew! How do you know they really have him?" Ian shrugged helplessly.

"He's only a baby. They sent a lock of his hair for proof. I had it secretly sent in for DNA testing. The results haven't come back yet."

"And Viktor is here to make sure you don't contact the police and really do hand over the treasure?" Adrienne guessed. Ian waited till several people passed before answering

"Exactly. So I'm stuck playing along with this."

Up ahead a black car Adrienne recognized very well pulled in and parked on the curb. Ben, Shippen, Shaw and Phil stepped out.

"Ben." Ian called walking up to him. Adrienne followed slowly.

"You all right? No broken bones? A jump like that could kill a man." Ben turned when he heard Ian, spotting Adrienne.

"Naw, it was cool. You should try it sometime. Are you Adrienne Garnet?" Adrienne nodded.

"Nice to finally meet you Mr. Gates." Ben stared at her face for a moment then turned angrily to Ian.

"What did you do to her?" Adrienne gingerly touched her face, feeling the bruise from the brick wall impact.

"I ran into a brick wall." She said, before Ian could answer. Ben stared than shook his head.

Ian placed the meerschaum pipe and Declaration of Independence on the car top.

"The Declaration of Independence and the meerschaum pipe. All yours."

"That's it?"

Ian nodded. "That's it. Now where is it? Where's my treasure?"

"It's right here." As Ben talked, Adrienne's thoughts drifted. _So Ian IS being forced into this. Why hasn't he told Ben yet? I wonder how all of this is going to turn out, if we do actually find the treasure. And how is Ian going to handle Viktor? He's going to want it turned over right away, probably. . _

"So, Heere at the Wall. Broadway, Wall Street." Ben continued then nodded. "Cheerio." He scooped up the items and turned to go.

"Just a moment Ben." Ian said, putting a hand to his head.

"Ian, if you break our deal the FBI will only be a few moments behind you. You might get away, you might not."

"Is that all the map said?"

Ban looked strained, but replied "Every word."

"Oh, Ben. You know the key to running a convincing bluff? Every once and a while, you have to be holding all the cards." Ian turned to look across the street where Viktor was watching suspiciously. He opened the car door and they could see Mr. Gates leaning to look out.

"Dad." Ben said looking shocked.

"Is there anything else you want to tell me?"

"Trinity Church. We have to go inside Trinity Church."


	9. Very Big Bugs

A/N: For Christmas I received the National Treasure Collectors version. I took the deleted scenes that would have had Adrienne in them, and inserted them in Not My Definition of Fun!. Chapter 9 

Trinity Church was filled with a quiet beauty, Adrienne felt less stressed just being inside. Ben whispered to his father, wanting to know if he was ok, before turning to Ian.

"Let him and Adrienne go, Ian."

"When we find the treasure." Ian replied, turning around.

"No. Now. Or you can figure out the clues for yourself. Good Luck." Ben said, shoving the glasses and case at him.

"Ben…" Ian said looking as though he was about to explain the whole situation. The doors opened and Viktor with Shippen, Abigail and Riley entered, ruining the moment. Adrienne rushed over to Abigail and slid into the pew next to her.

"Adrienne are you ok? I was so worried about you been being dragged around by Ian." Abigail whispered.

"I ran into a brick wall, that's what happened to my face." She glanced behind them at where Viktor lunged in the seat behind them, and began to explain the whole thing in hushed tones. Abigail listened in silence, but Riley wasn't so quiet.

"What! I don't…." Abigail clapped a hand over his mouth, and smiled nervously at Shippen, who Adrienne was sure knew what was going on.

"Well that explains why his men are such bad shots." Abigial whispered, when Adrienne had finished. "I'll tell Ben when I get a chance. Riley, you be quiet about this." They all looked up as Ben said. "Not inside, beneath. Beneath the church." Ian nodded and stood.

"To the basement, then."

Adrienne followed Shaw, down in to the boiler room. She was surprised to find several rows of tombstones set into the wall.

"Hey! Par..I found it! Him!" Riley called, gesturing excitedly to a tombstone.

"Ben!" Ian said, turning and stepping back as Ben hurried over.

"Parkington lane, He was a third-degree master mason of the Blue Lo…Hey!" He jumped back as Viktor swung a giant wrench, into the tombstone. _Where did the wrench come from? _Adrienne absentmindedly wondered.

"You told Dr. Chase about Viktor?" Ian asked in a hushed tone, pulling Adrienne away from the others.

"Yes, she said she would tell Ben as soon as she could."

Ian nodded, looking slightly relived. "Good."

Viktor finished smashing the tombstone to rubble and the guys hauled the coffin out. _Isn't there a law against disturbing the dead?_ Adrienne's thoughts were interrupted by the bottom of the rotting coffin falling out, along with what was left of Mr. Parkington Lane.

"Ew." Adrienne commented right after Abigail gasped, "Oh!"

"Careful no one steps in him." Shippen said sarcastically. Everyone gathered around and peered into now-revealed tunnel where the coffin had been.

"Ok. Who wants to go down the creepy tunnel inside the tomb first?" Riley asked

"Right. McGregor, stay here." Ian said.

"And if anyone should come out with out us, well…use your imagination." Viktor added, an evil look on his face. _Why doesn't someone just shoot him or hit him on the head?_ Adrienne asked herself, swallowing as she looked down the tunnel as Ben scrambled into it. _It's dark._ She climbed in after Shaw, who had a flashlight. Up ahead there was a blaze of light, where the tunnel ended. Shaw climbed out, Adrienne followed him when she felt something in her hair, moving! She jumped out of the tunnel and grabbed the closest person.

"Get it out! Get it out!" She exclaimed. "Get what?" Ian asked, looking confusedly at her.

"There is something in my hair! I can't stand it!" Shaw shined his light on Adrienne's head.

"What is it?" she asked as Ian dropped something on the floor and stepped on it. It crunched loudly.

"A very big cockroach. Apparently, they live down here."

Adrienne shuddered. Ben led the way, further into the catacomb-like tunnels.

"Careful." He said as Adrienne passed. She turned to look behind her, for Abigail and saw her and Ben, passionately kiss.

"Why does that never happen to me?" Shippen asked the air.

"Maybe you should consider a career change." Adrienne suggested. The tunnel had widened slightly and shallow arches lined the walls, lit by Ben's torch.

"These arches…" Patrick began, looking at an arch.

"Ancient, stylistically." Ian answered, before he finished. Ben stopped at an arch and knelt, looking at a shallow trough cut in the floor.

"And all this brickwork. It's…1700s." Patrick continued. Adrienne glanced over Ben's shoulder, as he smelled the black stuff filling it. He touched the torch to it and flames shot up, racing down the tunnel in a neat line. He stepped to the other side, to the other side of the catacomb and lit a similar trough.

"Good stuff." Riley commented. The lines of fire lit a path between them, illuminating the way.

"Come on." Ian said, after a moment of observation, taking Adrienne's arm.

"It's leading us under the graveyard." Patrick said, as Ben slashed at hanging cobwebs with his torch. A strand of the stuff fell into Adrienne's face and she batted it away. Viktor followed Ben closely, behind her.

"That probally went a long way toward keeping this place undiscovered." Patrick said, determined to play a tour guide. Adrienne filed each bit of information away as she heard it, her love for things of the past, keeping her intrigued. Ian swiped at more cobwebs falling in front of him and Adrienne, as they followed the fire-lit path. The light from the flames fell across his face, giving it an eerie red glow and darkening the shadows.

"What?" Ian asked, catching her gaze.

"You look evil, with the fire light." Adrienne answered in a monotone, knowing that wasn't the case.

"Appearances can be deceiving, don't ever forget that." Ian replied, glancing back, then continuing on.

"What's this?" Ian asked, as they entered a larger room.

"It's a chandelier." Ben replied, looking at the huge iron chandelier hanging from the ceiling. _Light! _Adrienne thought happily as Ben lit it. He and Riley then lowered the chandelier out into the center of what appeared to be a bottomless pit. Everyone peered down, trying to see the bottom.

"Wow." Riley said.

"Look at the elevators." Ben said as Adrienne noticed a couple rickety looking platforms dangling from ropes.

"A dumb waiter system." Mr. Gates informed.

"How do a bunch of guys with hand tools build all this?" Shippen asked with astonishment.

"Same way they built the pyramids and the Great Wall of China." Ben replied, still looking down into the dark depths.

"Yeah, the aliens helped them." Riley said. Adrienne snickered.

"Right, What are we waiting for?' Viktor snapped, as Shippen handed the torch to Patrick.

"I'm not going out on that thing." He protested. "200 years of termite damage and rot."

"Dad, do what they say." Ben said quietly. Patrick sighed, but stepped out and began making his way, cautiously across the old wood. Adrienne glanced down and wished she hadn't.

"We're right under the Trinity graveyard. That's why no one ever found this place."

"That's nice." Adrienne said nervously, stepping over a hole. There was a sudden rumbling and Adrienne froze, behind Ian, as dirt and other unidentified stuff fell.

"What is that?" Riley asked as the floor and walls vibrated. The rumbling slowly faded.

"Subway." Ian answered. Adrienne took a couple steps forward when with a loud crash behind her, Shaw plunged through the rotting boards. Adrienne stared in horror as his flashlight light got smaller and smaller till it vanished completely. Suddenly before anyone could speak the walkway they were on began to crumble. Adrienne glanced around, unsure of what was safe to stand on. Riley leapt across to another platform as Ben began to fall.

"Hold on! Hold on!" Abigail said frantically.

"Adrienne! Get over here!" Adrienne tore her gaze off of Ben's predicament and scrambled over to a still-holding platform where everyone else was. It didn't hold for very long. The piece of walkway Adrienne, Ian, Shippen and Patrick were on began to tilt and slide ominously. She grabbed a board on the wall and held on for dear life.

"Ok. Get on the elevator. " Ian ordered, seeing it a short distance away.

"Jump!" Shippen jumped across and Viktor followed, unhesitatingly. Abigail managed to help pull Ben onto the other elevator, to safety. The boards beneath Adrienne's feet tilted even further.

"Jump!" Ian ordered Patrick, then turned to Adrienne. Mr. Gates made it across safely, slamming into the rope hand guard on the elevator.

"Go!" Adrienne felt herself being half flung across the gap and bent her knees, attempting to cushion her fall. Ian slammed into the elevator right behind her, barely making it as the walkway fell. On the other elevator, Ben started to hand the Declaration to Riley, but suddenly the elevator fell out from under them. It shot downward then stopped two of the ropes breaking. Abigail slid down it, saved only from a death, like Shaw's, by Ben's grip.

"Get down there! Get down there!" Patrick frantically said. The broken elevator swung back and forth, Abigail hanging off the edge. _The Declaration!_ Adrienne realized, noticing its precarious perch on the edge. As the elevator swung up, Ben released Abigail to grab the document. She hit part of the walkway below, with a painful sounding thump.

"Oh no! Ben!" She cried as Ben, having secured the Declaration, almost flew off the edge as the elevator continued to tilt.

"Hang on!" Patrick tossed the end of the rope he and Ian had been pulling free, down to where Ben could grab it. He swung over to the walkway Abigail was on, Ian and Patrick bracing themselves against his weight.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry I dropped you. I had to save the Declaration." He apologized fervently to Abigail.

"No, don't be. I would have done exactly the same thing to you." She replied. _Wow, talk about a love for history._ Adrienne thought, shaking her head.

Shippen slowly lowered the elevator to Ben, Riley and Abigail's level.

"Get on." Viktor ordered.

"It's not worth it." Ben insisted. "Can't you see, Ian?"

Ian said nothing, but looked tense.

"We go on." Viktor said, flatly.

"The status quo. Keep the status quo." Patrick murmured.

"Oh, shut up, you crazy old fool." Viktor snapped as everyone else filed on. As Shippen began turning the wheel to lower the elevator again, Ian's cell phone rang. Pulling it out he turned away from the others.

"Hello. Really?" There was a silence.

"You're sure? Good. Thank you." Ian turned back, putting his phone away.

"Who was that?" Viktor demanded.

"My stock broker." Ian cooly replied. As Viktor turned away, satisfied, Adrienne stepped closer.

"And what did the stock broker have to say?" she whispered. Ian turned away again, so his smile could not be seen.

"They don't have him."


	10. Hope and Betrayal

A/N: Sorry, it took me longer than I thought to tie everything together. I'm not sure if it makes sense even now. My Beta assured me that it did, so… Chapter 10 

The elevator finally stopped at the edge of a walkway, leading deeper into the wall.

"Now what?" Riley wondered out loud.

"This is where it all leads." Patrick said, as Ben fastened the elevator to a handy post.

"Ok, let's go." Ben said, accepting the torch from Abigail. Adrienne stopped once she was inside the room. It was empty! _Oh, this is not good…._ Patrick paused to light the single lantern hanging from the ceiling of the low, round room.

"What is this?" Riley asked.

"Yeah, what is this?" Adrienne asked as well.

"So where's the treasure?" Viktor asked. Ian broke the silence that followed.

"Well?"

"This is it?" Riley exclaimed "We came all this way for a dead end?" Ben sighed, putting a hand to his head. "Yes." Ian inched toward the opening, laughing nervously. Adrienne saw what he was worried about. _If Viktor fires, in here the bullet will bounce off the walls, and hit a lot of people, which isn't good… _Viktor was looking more and more irritated.

"There's got to be something more…" Riley continued. "Riley, there's nothing more!"

"Did you tell him?" Adrienne mouthed at Abigail, who nodded.

"Another clue, or…"

"No. There are no more clues! That's it! Over! End of the road! The treasure's gone. Moved. Taken somewhere else." Ben replied, frustrated.

"You aren't playing games are you?" Viktor asked, looking from Ben to Ian. "You know where it is." He continued, turning to Ian.

"No." Ian said, shaking his head.

"And don't make me give my boss a call about your un-cooperation."

Ian shrugged. "And what would they do? You guys don't have my nephew."

"So?" With that, Viktor did pull out his gun, pointing it at Adrienne. She froze.

"Shippen, go throw your gun over the edge. Slowly." Viktor ordered. Shippen reluctantly did what he was told.

"All of you." Viktor said, motioning to Ben, Riley, Abigail and Patrick. "Stand against the wall."

"Viktor, leave Adrienne out of this." Ian said, slowly taking a step toward him. "She has no involvement in this."

"She does now, seeing how you dragged her along, for no apparent reason. You wouldn't want to see her bleeding to death or in agony, would you?" _I'm being threatened by a madman with a gun. _Adrienne thought, trying to see a way out of it.

"No." Ian replied softly.

"Where's the treasure then?" Viktor demanded.

"I don't know."

"Then what's the next clue?" Ian glanced at Ben, a question in his eyes.

"There isn't another clue!" Riley burst out.

"Quiet!" Viktor yelled, waving the gun. "The clue, Ian, or you'll see how much blood a person can lose before death."

"I need to talk to Ben." Both Ben and Ian stepped to the center of the room, by the lantern.

"Ok, there has to be another clue." Ben said, glancing around at his surroundings. Out of the corner of her eye, Adrienne saw Shippen, slowly edging up behind Viktor.

"The lantern." Ben finally said.

"And what does it mean?"

"Ok," Ben began, standing underneath the lantern and pretending to examine it. As Viktor's gaze followed him, Shippen grabbed his gun arm. As they struggled Viktor's gun went off. Adrienne dove to the side, tripping on a rock. Ian and Ben joined the struggle, managing to pull the gun away.

"Adrienne, he shot you!" Abigail cried, helping her up.

"He did?" Adrienne asked, scared to look. By this time, Viktor was unconscious, and being tied up. The ceiling and walls began to rumble again. Ian during the middle of it, walked over to Adrienne.

"Adrienne, I love you." _Now, this can't be happing! I can't admit to myself alone, that I love him. I can't get in a relationship. What if it turns out like the last one I had? I can't go through that much pain again…. _She thought, frantically.Adrienne was spared from having to answer by the ceiling suddenly collapsing. Something slammed into her head and the world went dark.


	11. Respect for Fear

Chapter 11 

The room appeared to be lit by torch light, when Adrienne woke up, her head hurting more than ever. She rolled off Ian, who had served as a pillow, and sat up. He was still unconscious, as was Riley and Abigail. No one seemed to be injured by the collapsing ceiling. Patrick's jacket had caught on fire from a torch, but that had been extinguished. The entire entrance had caved in, rocks filling the gap. She and everyone else were jammed in a 5-foot space, against the wall, where no rocks had fallen.

"We're trapped!" she gasped.

"No, we're not. There's another way out." Ben said. "When everyone wakes up, we can leave."

Adrienne sighed. "Oh, that's good." Suddenly she remembered what had happened before the rocks had fallen.

"Oh, no. What am I going to do?" she asked herself, quietly. _Ian loves me. But I can't… I don't want this to happen! How am I going to explain it? I'm just so scarred from my past. _Adrienne wrapped her arms around herself, feeling the first twinges of pain from the shot. She bit her lip, struggling not to cry from the emotional battle going on. Ian chose this moment to wake up.

"Ow…What happened?" he asked, sitting up, and wincing.

"Adrienne. It's ok. We're going to get out. This whole thing will be over. " he said, trying to comfort Adrienne.

"No, it's not!" Adrienne said, almost sobbing. "Ian, I… It's too soon. I can't…."

He studied her. "Because of what happened with Grant?"

"Yes. It's hard to explain. I just don't-"

"Hey, I'll back off. I can respect fear, especially after what you have gone through." Ian said softly. Adrienne felt slightly relived. "Thank you."

Abigail, who was awake by now, though unsure of what was happening, offered Adrienne a packet of travel tissues.

"We're going to die!" Riley moaned, as soon as he spotted the filled in opening.

"Good thing none of us are claustrophobic." Shippen commented, somewhat sarcastically.

"We are not going to die!" Ben reassured "There is another way out, through the treasure room."

"So the treasure is here?" Ian asked, helping Adrienne to her feet.

"Yes." Once she was standing, the walls seemed to waver and spin.

"Adrienne, you don't look well." Abigail said.

"Too many bonks on the head." Adrienne mumbled

"I hope you don't have a concussion." Ian said, agreeing with Abigail.

"With my luck, what do you expect?"

"Where's Viktor?" Riley asked, looking around worriedly, as though he might suddenly step out of the wall.

"He's over there." Ben said, pointing. "I dragged him out, with Abigail after the entrance collapsed."

"You should have left him there." Ian said darkly.

"He has to go to prison." Patrick said, joining the conversation.

"So, where is this other way out?" Ian asked.

"I want to go to a hospital." Adrienne added.

"You'll get one, don't worry." Ian reassured. Ben pressed down on a non-noticed disk on the sill of one of the carved arches and a grinding noise was heard. After some shoving, Ben and his father, pushed back the wall, in that section, revealing a passage. Adrienne winced with the noise and quite unexpectedly, passed out.

* * *

When she woke up, she was strapped to a gurney, apparently being wheeled down a white hallway. White coated people swarmed around. _A hospital! _Adrienne thought happily. _I'm not going to die! _A smiling elderly lady's face appeared in her circle of vision.

"Hello, I'm Doctor Jump. You're going into surgery right now, to remove the bullet."

"Wait, wait!" Adrienne gasped. "Where is everyone else?"

"Adrienne I'm here!" Abigail said, pushing her way to Adrienne's side.

"Did you find the treasure?"

"We did. It was incredible!"

Adrienne groaned. "You find the treasure of the century and I'm unconscious the entire time."

"You will have plenty of opportunities to see it. We'll be waiting for you when the surgery is over."


	12. Epilogue

**Credit goes to BlueRainLady for giving me the idea for the ending and helping me work it out.**

When Adrienne opened her eyes, it was dark. Abigail and Ben were standing by the hospital bed, smiling secretively.

_Riley stumbled in, carrying a vase of roses._

"_These are for you." He said, slightly gasping. "How are flowers so heavy?" _

"_No, don't just drop them on her! Put them on the table." Abigail scolded. "Here's the card."_

"_Who are they from?" Riley asked, curiously. _

"_Who do you think?" Abigail replied. Adrienne unfolded the card. _

_**Adrienne, I apologize for running off and leaving you in the hospital without even saying goodbye…**_

_Just then the door opened and Ian suddenly walked in. Adrienne dropped the card._

"_Ian?" She and Riley said in unison._

"_Why aren't you in England?" Adrienne asked, confused. Ian stepped forward, ignoring Riley and Abigail._

"_This is more important."_

Adrienne opened her eyes. "Ian?" she asked, confused.

"Adrienne, Ian isn't here." Abigail said. _It was a dream? What?_

"I am so glad that is over. I called your sister and she asked me to make sure someone was with you when you woke up." Abigail continued, sitting in a bedside chair.

"Surprisingly, I didn't have any nightmares." Adrienne replied, sitting up. "And yes, I'm glad this is over. Where is everyone?" Abigail opened the hospital window blinds.

"Ben is on his way here, he was with the treasure. Riley is here somewhere. Ian had to catch a flight to England this morning, I think to check on his sister and nephew, they were in some danger, and to help the FBI catch Viktor's employers." Abigail dropped back in her seat. "He sends his love. Riley overheard that and it about sent him into a coma."

Adrienne smiled, unsure of what to say. "Hey, what's that on your hand?" she asked, startled.

Abigail smiled proudly, and showed the ring that now graced her left hand. "Ben proposed, I accepted."

"I'm so happy for you both!" Adrienne exclaimed. _Ian isn't here. He loves me, but I blew it. He's gone… I _

_ruined my chance of finding love, after all that happened._

**A/N: There will be a sequel to this! I have an idea for it, but it hasn't made paper yet. Thank you all my reviewers for encouraging and providing initiative! Suggestions would be appreciated! **


	13. Author's Note Upcoming Sequel

**Author's Note: Since National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets is coming out this weekend, I decided to use it for the sequel to Not My Definition of Fun. It will probally take a while to write, but it saves me from having to come up with a plot… (And I was also very mad that Sean Bean as Ian wasn't in the cast list, so I couldn't resist writing him in.) **


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